ILDS Newsletter No. 19

After having returned from an outstanding and stimulating world congress in Seoul, it is my pleasure to invite you to read the fi rst ILDS newsletter edited by the newly elected Board. The ILDS Board and I as its President will do our best to stay in touch with you, and to jointly work on many important issues to be tackled and solved during the forthcoming four years. Please see a photo of the new Board as well as a list of all Board members as well as their email addresses below. Please contact me as your President directly, or contact the league through Regional Board members, or simply those who you know best. The new Board of the ILDS has started its work for the ongoing term, and we are aiming to identify the areas that deserve most of our attention. To prepare the ground, the Board will hold a full day strategy retreat in October 2011, prior to the EADV meeting in Lisbon. We will have several committees within the ILDS Board, and the chairpersons will report in one of the forthcoming newsletters on their work in detail. Thus, you can follow and comment our activities. It is the predominant task of the ILDS to organize the World Congress of Dermatology every four years, and therefore the preparations for the next WCD have to be initiated right away. The Program Committee is already assigned and will, under the leadership of Prof Jean Bolognia, work hard to ensure a successful program. However, some framework discussions need to take place at the retreat meeting before we can go ahead. Questions pertinent to the WCD include: what are the unique strengths of a WCD, how can we improve further its attractiveness, should other professions – i.e. dermatological nurses – be involved as well, how can we best balance between the diff erent subspecialties of dermatology, and what is the ideal length of a WCD? Some of you have already come up with suggestions, and we ask you to contact us for criticisms or proposals. As you may know, there many other issues in which the ILDS is involved. In fact, the ILDS entertains strong philanthropic activities, such as the Regional Dermatology Training Center in Moshi, Tanzania. Here, in the Kilimanjaro region, many African dermatologists are trained, and we can be proud of our successful work, which – by the way – is supported by many of our member societies, either independently or via the International Foundation of Dermatology, a subcommittee of the ILDS. As it is often the case, such successful activities are seen by others, who then are keen to support and to help further. In one of the forthcoming issues of the ILDS newsletter, we will report on a new project in the context of the Moshi training center, called Hats on for Skin Health. I am sure you will be surprised and pleased. The ILDS is the league of dermatological societies around the globe, and we believe it is important that the leaders of these societies engage more frequently. Therefore, the ILDS will host receptions for the Presidents and selected offi cers of our member societies, in order to exchange thoughts, concerns and new concepts on a global scale. We will regularly hold such receptions at the annual meetings of AAD and EADV, with other possible locations. Next year, we will organize an ILDS Dermatology Summit, which will take place from June 4–5, in Berlin. Presidents and other representatives of all member societies are being invited to discuss opportunities and challenges in dermatology on a global scale. From these discussions, we hope to initiate programs and activities that will strengthen and further develop our discipline. At our retreat meeting in October this year, we will discuss a draft agenda which will be distributed to all member societies for further input. The scope of dermatology diff ers geographically, and we need to fi nd ways to strengthen areas of our discipline that are not represented globally, but which are of utmost importance where they belong to dermatology. Such fi elds include, among others, venereology (which belongs to dermatology is many parts of the world), allergy, dermatopathology, proctology, leprology, mycology, and even andrology. We will defi nitively involve you, and learn from you, on our way towards a successful future. Personally, I strongly believe that the ILDS, the International League of Dermatological Societies, is the organization to identify and to tackle the problems we are facing in dermatology, and to develop strategies to identify and overcome them. Without any doubt, the ILDS represents an enormous source of knowledge and experience and, together, we will be strong enough to bring dermatology and its subspecialities into an excellent and rewarding position, thus maintaining and improving the care for our patients. Please help us, invest time and support our projects.